No, Instead Call the Love Squad

“Call the Bomb Squad!” screamed the woman after coming across a strange looking package. Ever so carefully the package was carried away to be blown up. Then it made a noise, but not the “ticking” noise you might expect. When the package was opened, there inside was a newborn baby. If the baby had not cried it would have been blown up! Why? Because it came in such a strange-looking package.

CONSIDER that story: it’s incredible, but not uncommon. It happens all the time in our relationship with others. Sometimes we tend to judge and treat people according to the package in which they are wrapped. And while some of the wrapping is given, such as personal appearance, much of it is chosen, such as manner, behavior, and attitude. A certain appearance is given off: Mr. Tough Guy, Miss Innocent, Impossible, Dangerous, Unlovable. Some folks produce strange looking packages. Our first thoughts are to take them out and blow them up. No, not with dynamite, but with our words and actions.

Such a package was placed before Jesus in the Gospel of John. A woman “caught in the act of adultery.” The verdict: Stone her. Blow her up! Here Jesus reminds us that it is good to remember that inside every package called “Human Being” is a child of God. Sometimes inside the meanest, vilest, most threatening, strangest looking package is a baby crying, not to be blown up, but to be loved and forgiven.